Fredrik Laurin

Fredrik Laurin is an investigative reporter/producer for the current affairs show "Uppdrag Granskning" on Swedish Public Broadcasting, SVT. He works in a team with Sven Bergman and Joachim Dyfvermark.

The team were in 2005 rewarded with a number of awards including Stora Journalistpriset (Swedish equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize) for their reporting on the secret deportation of two Egyptians in what was one of the first operations known as "Extraordinary rendition".

The two men, Ahmed Agiza and Muhammed Al Zery, were taken from Bromma airport in Sweden in December 2001 to Egypt in a covert operation by US agents and handed over to Egyptian security services and were subsequently tortured.

The story caused a major uproar in Sweden, drew international attention and was one of the first to shed light on "Extraordinary Rendition". The plane uncovered in the report as the one used in the rendition was a US registered Gulfstream V with the registration number N379P. It was found by the reporters, and their partners in the reporting like UK-reporter Stephen Grey to be part of a much larger fleet of planes used for rendition operations.

Fredrik Laurin and his colleagues also received several awards, among them a second "Stora Journalistpriset", for their 2007 report on the bribery in the sale of the Swedish jet-fighter Gripen to the Czech Republic, Hungary and South Africa.

Biography

Fredrik Laurin has been working as a journalist since 1989.

Since 2006 as investigative reporter/producer for Sweden’s main investigativeProgramme "Uppdrag granskning" at SVT - Swedish Television.

Before that as investigative reporter/producer for the current affairs show"Kalla Fakta" ("Cold Facts") Swedish National TV4 and earlier at the SwedishNews Agency TT, the Current Affairs Show "Striptease" on Swedish Television,SVT, and the media newspaper "Resumé".

Fredrik Laurin teaches Swedish journalists in investigative journalismtechniques in courses organized by the Swedish Investigative Reporters andEditors "Grävande Journalister", and at the University of Stockholm School ofJournalism.

In 2007 the trio was again awarded "Stora journalistpriset" for the report"Gripen - the secret deals" on how Sweden´s military industry bribed the wayfor the export of the Swedish jetfighter Gripen to the Czech Republic.

In August 2006 Fredrik Laurin and Joachim Dyfvermark were awarded theNorwegian "Breiflabb-price" for the reports "The Illegal Cod". The price isgiven to journalists who in their professional work has contributed to apositive development of the fishing industry.

In 2003 the trio was awarded the Swedish Investigative Journalists Price ofHonour together with Fredrik Lundberg for a story uncovering a huge corruption scandal in "Systembolaget"(the Swedish State Monopoly on Alcohol).

Fredrik Laurin was together with Leif Holmkvist awarded the Swedish Investigative Reporters and Editorsmost respected price "Guldspaden" 2000, for the revelation of bribes in theSwedish campaign for the summer Olympic Games 2004.

Filmography

2008: "Josephs fate" - torture in the Kongo under EU and UN flag.

2007: "Gripen - the secret deals"

2006: "The Illegal Cod"

2005: "The Broken Promise" part 5

2004: "The broken promise" part 1,2,3 and 4 Investigative programme. SwedishTV4. A series revealing the political game behind a secret deportation oftwo terror-suspected Egyptian men, conducted by American agents on Swedishground.

2003: "The network". Investigative programme. Swedish TV4. A seriesRevealing the largest corruption scandal in the history of Sweden, involvinghundreds of people in the Swedish State Monopoly on Alcohol.

2003: "They are listening". Investigative programme. Swedish TV4. A programrevealing how the Swedish Defence Radio Authority controls internet andtelephone communications.

2003: "The real operation of DC3". Investigative programme. Swedish TV4. Areview of the historic shoot-down by Soviet Russia of a Swedish signalsintelligence plane over the Baltic Sea during the Cold War.

2002/2003: "The Black Sea". Investigative programme. Swedish TV4. A seriesrevealing the systematic illegal fishing and selling of cod in the BalticSea.

2002: "The Swede at Guantanamo Bay". Documentary. Swedish TV4. About theSwede Mehdi Muhammed Gehzali who was arrested on the boarder of Afghanistanand Pakistan in December 2001 and detained on the American military base atGuantanamo Bay, Cuba.

2001: "The real life of an AU-pair". Investigative programme. Swedish TV4. Areview on the real and often harsh conditions of young women from EasternEurope, working as AU-pair in the homes of rich Swedish families.